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Vivian Lewis is editor and founder of Global-Investing.com, the daily blog newsletter for Americans and others seeking to internationalize their portfolios. She brings unique experience and competence to the business of picking foreign stocks.Read More >>

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A Worm in the Apple

In case worrying about the stock market is not enough to keep you anxious, here is what the Swiss are frightened of today: a major leak of the source codes for the Apple internet operating system used for iPhone and iPads. The NZZ today quoted an insider as calling it “the biggest hack in history” affecting more than a billion devices.

Which doesn't mean Wall Street or indeed Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse are calm, cool, and collected today. As noted already, the Swiss Central Bank selling of its US stock portfolio used to invest funds it gathered to keep the Swiss franc cheap, was a trigger for the US stock market drop last week. The Swiss Central Bank, according to today's Wall Street Journal, last year made $55 billion from its global portfolio holdings—more money than Apple did.

Today the CBOE stock dropped another 15%, taking it down 25% since last week when the VIX soared and the XIV sank. It is a Chicago-based options market which trades volatility but also lots of other things.

Mexico raised interest rates because of inflation fear to a 9 year high which hurt Mexican shares.

European stock indexes fell to a 5-month low.

This is another terrible Thursday so we have corporate results to report, from Canada, Mexico, and Israel, plus news from around the globe. Here goes.